SUBFAMILY CUCURBITOIDEAE

Edited by Ho Dinh HaiLong An -VietnamUpdated: 19/5/2015

1- Introduction to the Subfamily Cucurbitoideae (Gourd Subfamily)

1.1- Overview The Cucurbitaceae, also cucurbits, are a plantfamily, sometimes called the gourd family, consisting of around a hundred genera. The plants in this family are grown around the tropics and in temperate areas, where those with edible fruits were among the earliest cultivated plants both in the Old and New Worlds. The Cucurbitaceae family ranks among the highest of plant families for number and percentage of species used as human food. Most of the plants in this family are annualvines, but some are woody lianas, thorny shrubs, or trees (Dendrosicyos). Many species have large, yellow or white flowers. The stems are hairy and pentangular. Tendrils are present at 90° to the leaf petioles at nodes. Leaves are exstipulate alternate simple palmately lobed or palmately compound. The flowers are unisexual, with male and female flowers on different plants (dioecious) or on the same plant (monoecious). The female flowers have inferior ovaries. The fruit is often a kind of modified berry called a pepo.